From 2007 to 2009, the group found, 18 pedestrian fatalities occurred along the thoroughfare, which stretches for 16 miles in Manhattan and the Bronx and is one of the city’s longest streets if not the longest. Most of the accidents occurred in Upper Manhattan and Kingsbridge in the Bronx.

Parts of Seventh Avenue, the West Side Highway, and the Bowery near the Lower East Side also ranked high on the list. Eight pedestrians were killed on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn during the three-year period, and parts of Kings Highway and Ocean Parkway recorded seven deaths each.

The total number of pedestrians killed in the city reached 446 during that three-year period, according to the city Department of Transportation.

More pedestrians were killed in Brooklyn than any other city borough, followed by Manhattan, Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island, said the transportation campaign, which advocates for progressive and pedestrian-friendly transportation policies.

The campaign has mapped its records of pedestrian fatalities on Google Maps, divided by borough and county. A map of Manhattan is here; the other maps (and full reports on each region) can be found here.

“Even with limited resources, the region can step up efforts to design more balanced, walkable streets,” said Kate Slevin, executive director of the Tri-State Transportation Campaign. “Pedestrian improvements offer a tremendous bang for the buck.”

The upper East Side has had so many deaths due to automobile traffic that it’s a miracle any of us are still alive and living here.
I’ve told you how it is on both sides of the street car wise between Ist and York Avenues.
Well, today I became aware of cars parked on both sides of narrow 92nd Street between 1st and 2nd Avenues.
All the convenience of small town livng with their automobiles parked right at their kitchen doors.

Fascinating and valuable information overall, but considering the design of Broadway from Columbus Circle all the way down to Union Square has COMPLETELY changed since the summer 2009, isn’t that pedestrian safety data considered a little outdated?

We have laws on the books that, were they strictly enforced (with cameras perhaps), could push the pedestrian fatality number towards zero.

Cell-phone violations are rampant. My least favorite is when a driver is looking to his or her lap to text.

Thank goodness we also have a sensible DOT now that is installing traffic calming and pedestrian friendly streets around the city. I’m sure those fatality numbers on Broadway dropped after the boulevard was narrowed south of Times Square.

I also feel much safer as a pedestrian crossing Prospect Park West now that the bicycle lane is installed. The cars drive at a reasonable pace and are no longer drag racing. That particular lane is doing a lot for pedestrian safety.

This report is really much ado about nothing. There is no information about pedestrian density, vehicular traffic counts, or distance over which a rate could be computed. Without that information, the rest of the story has no context. After all, there is certainly more ped traffic in mid-town or even the financial district than Washington Heights. There is also no information about whether the deaths occurred at intersections or mid-block, whether there was any kind of traffic control device (stop sign, signal), or any of several other factors that could affect safety.

Until all those parameters are properly analyzed, reports like this merely fan the flames that we are living in a more dangerous world without giving any idea of what, if anything, can be done most efficiently to reduce pedestrian deaths in a city as busy as New York.

Broadway is too long and too diverse to be considered as a whole. You have to look at where the actual deaths are, neighborhood-wise: if upper Manhattan is more dangerous, just like the crazy insane and unlicensed areas where drivers are killing people on Atlantic and Flatbush Ave’s in Brooklyn, and Queens Blvd, why isn’t there more enforcement there? When are people speeding, why are they speeding, who are they, and why isn’t there more enforcement where they are? Stand around Flatbush Ave. and 6th/Prospect Place for a couple of hours sometime and watch the “get out of my way I’m a car and I’m important” madness. Aggressive driving alone, in urban areas, should be a crime. People die. The hell with cars…and bikes…pedestrians are # 1, and should revolt against everything with wheels.

Without a per-mile and per capita analysis this information tells us nothing. As you point out, B’way is one of the longest streets in the city (and is much longer than the typical or average street), so of course there will be a larger number of deaths. Similarly, Brooklyn has the largest population of the 5 boroughs, so it’s no surprise that it would have the largest number of deaths.

An analysis of the number of pedestrian deaths in relation to the population density of each borough, and in relation to the number of miles of streets of each borough, and the number of cars on a typical day of the week and time, would also be helpful.

I lived up in Kingsbridge, for a few years so am not surprised about B’way farther up north. I think half the people driving around up in that area don;t even have a license not too mention all the crazy livery cab drivers speeding all over. Broadway, is a different world once you get past Columbia, univ.and obviously the NYPD, could care less about traffic violations above 96th street. If they just parked at B’way and Dyckman, they’d be issuing tickets for various infractions but hey who has the time I guess???

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